Tuesday, December 28, 2010

A very merry Christmas

Well there's another Christmas gone - I hope my lovely readers had a happy and peaceful festive season!

This Christmas has been very nice, but also a little unusual. For instance, this year, for the first time EVER, Chris and I had to set an alarm clock on Christmas day, to make sure we got up early enough to get everything done on time. It felt like a world away from the Christmases of our childhoods, with no stress, no responsibility, just fun and excitement!

That's not to say it was all unpleasant, I'm just now counting down the Christmases until we have kids in the house, to bring back some of that magic - so we can enjoy it vicariously :D

And while I was able to take a nice longish break from work, which was great (and nothing broke!), I've still been pretty busy. As well as my usual physio and pilates appointments, I've acquired a new specialist, and hence a whole bunch of extra appointments there. On one hand it's a fantastic feeling to be making such good headway with my health, but it has detracted a bit from the relaxed holiday feeling! I think I may have to start planning a trip down south in a few months when things have quietened down.

What has been absolutely magical and lovely this Christmas has been spending time with our families and friends :) We had a jam-packed schedule, keeping us away from home for a night and two days, but the inconvenience was very slight and we had so much fun. We have some really fun traditions already, and I'm looking forward to creating a few more as our family grows.

And lastly but not least - presents! Certain aspects of our Christmas shopping were left a little late this year, but we got there. Nobody really stumped me this year, and in any case I really enjoy spending time thinking about people and what they might like. I got some excellent things in return - there was a distinctly practical and useful theme this year! Among my favourites are these gumboots from Chris:

I can't wait for wet wintery weather to use them out in the garden! I also got a rather excellent garden weather station, shown in the photo below - we haven't quite decided where to put it yet. Unfortunately I don't think the rain gauge will get much use, but it will be great to have a thermometer and wind vain out in the garden, and I think it looks lovely, too.

Also on the gardening side of things I got a second bokashi bucket, which will cut down the crazy rush when my first bucket fills up. I also got a lovely set consisting of the Gardening Australia diary, an Organic Gardener calendar, and an OG Guide to Growing Fruit - so handy! And I have to mention the yard of Jaffa Cakes we got - yum! In fact I'm quite overloaded with delicious chocolatey treats at the moment.

Of course, the dogs in our lives weren't forgotten :) Tess got a new swimming toy, a floaty kong with an attached rope. Hopefully we'll be able to take her to the river before too long to try it out. She also got a new (and differently shaped) kong toy for dispensing biscuits - that will keep her busy while we're at work. Our family rottie also got a new kong toy, and they both got a little bag of mixed treats. They both did an excellent job of unwrapping their presents - I'm hoping somebody got some photos, I was too busy having fun :)

So that was Christmas! Fun, busy, and always too short for me. I still haven't finished watching all the Christmas shows and movies I recorded - and then there are a few on DVD I want to watch! I'm afraid poor Tess is terribly bored - with the hot weather she's not getting as many walks as usual.

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas, and are looking forward to an exciting new year. I have a really, really good feeling about next year. I'm finally getting some really long term medical things sorted out, we're planning our new house, I've got some big plans for the garden, and things are just generally feeling really positive. Here's hoping I can keep my momentum going with the garden (well.. once the weather cools down!) and keep finding things to blog about.

3 comments:

I am so glad you are feeling positive about your health prospects!! Hurray!! You look fabulous in your gumboots with your weather station!!Christmas can be quite stressful I think, and I'm glad yours was not. Lucky Tess!! The Labradors are good unwrappers too!!!PS I see it is only 362 days till Christmas!!!!

Hurrah!!!I am SO thrilled to hear of your lovely Chrissie Bon! Now we must find a time to catch up ourselves... will give you a call :) Gorgeous gumboots! Mine are one of my favourite things - they are so fabulously practical and fun, very comfy too. Here's to 2011, who knows what it will hold?! xoxo